New Jersey Governor heads to UK for trade, politics, soccer

NEW YORK Feb 1 (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie, a likely 2016 Republican presidential contender, will
be promoting his state's life sciences industry in a trip to the
United Kingdom starting Sunday, where he is also scheduled to
meet the Prime Minister and catch an Arsenal match.

The brash, charismatic second-term governor is expected to
soon announce whether he intents to run for president. On Jan.
23, Christie supporters formed a political action committee, the
biggest indication yet that he will make a bid for the White
House.

The UK is the third largest trading partner for New Jersey
after Canada and Mexico, and the trip will focus on pursuing new
opportunities for growth between UK and New Jersey in the field
of life sciences, Christie told reporters on Friday in embargoed
remarks.

"One of the main objectives for the trip is to focus on the
opportunities that exist between the UK and New Jersey and our
country as a whole," said Christie.

Christie will attend a life sciences round table in
Cambridge with participation from New Jersey-based
biopharmaceutical company Celgene.

He will meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron on
the trip and watch football team Arsenal play Aston Villa on
Sunday - but also hopes on Sunday to catch the Super Bowl, the
biggest annual showdown of the U.S.'s National Football League.

"I'm looking forward to going to the Arsenal game and
hopefully watch a bit of the Super Bowl as well and do the work
we need to do to bring more jobs back to New Jersey by creating
a stronger relationship between our state and our third largest
trading partner," Christie said.

Christie, who recently courted controversy over whether he
should have gone to Texas for a Jan. 4 Dallas Cowboys game,
could end up squaring off against any of a number of other
Republicans in the quest for political and financial support.
Continued...